


Chosen Ones

by Ducks



Series: Ducks' Malec Week 2016 Collection [4]
Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, M/M, Malec Conquers Death, Malec Week 2016, Near Death Experience, Shadowhunters/Buffy/Angel Crossover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-17
Updated: 2016-08-22
Packaged: 2018-08-09 07:35:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 11,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7792498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ducks/pseuds/Ducks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Shadowhunters gang meets up with the Scooby gang in an inter-dimensional demon hunt. Bad things happen, and Magnus can't be sure, after, how much of it really did.</p><p>For Malec Week 2016 Day 4 (August 16th): Crossover Day - Place Magnus and Alec in a different book series, TV-show or movie and let your imagination run wild.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Spike was literally drilled to the wall--and not in a fun way that might lead to a nice, mind-bending orgasm. He glanced down at his gut and made a face at the weird, glowing sword sticking out of it.

"What is this shit? Trying to do me in with a glow stick? Who are you fuckwads?"

Angel was in a slightly less precarious position, considering some tall tattooed freak as big as Peaches himself currently had a bow and arrow pointed at his chest, but hadn't let fly yet.

"Shut up, Spike. Look, I think you have the wrong idea about us."

Pretty much the hottest little Latina lady he'd laid eyes on in an age stepped forward. She didn't look armed at all besides her damn considerable sex appeal and the barely there red leather mini-dress she wore. "Pointy teeth, flinch at crosses? Let me guess: leprechauns?"

"No such thing as leprechauns, pet," Spike corrected her, and had a sudden need for a very bloody Bloody Mary. If it wouldn't leak out of the _giant hole in his gut_.

"Um, yeah, actually, there are. Just don't call them that to their face. They prefer small folk, or gold folk, which if you ask me should be copper folk, since they all have red hair."

"Izzy..." The tall pale one warned. It was then Spike noticed that they all had the same weird tattoos...only the hot chick had a particularly big one right in the dead center of her chest, highlighting her spectacular breasts. He decided he liked her best out of all the people currently threatening to dust them.

"What? We're not going to kill them, so we might as well make small talk until Magnus gets here."

That was a relief, and hey! "What's a Magnus? You mean the malt liquor? I could go for a 40 about now." But again, gut hole. It was currently closing around the glowing sword, and he was not liking it one bit. He tried to grab the thing and yank it out himself, but the hilt burned the shit out of his hands. Who the hell blessed their sword hilt, anyway?

The dumb-looking blond who'd skewered Spike with the rave light in the first place snickered, earning himself a truly Angel-worthy glower from the big pale archer.

"Hardly," Paleface said, "He's only the highly powerful warlock who's going to chain you up so we can take you back to the Institute."

"And also Alec's _main squeeze_ ," the hot chick added.

"Institute of what? Batshittery?" Spike snapped. "Don't you know who we are?"

"We don't even know _where_ we are," Izzy muttered.

"Izzy!" both of her boyfriends chastised.

Angel picked then to get interested in their predicament. "You're lost? This is Cliffside, right outside Sunnydale Canyon. We're not going to hurt you."

The threesome didn't look any more enlightened or relaxed. Before the conversation could develop further, a curtain of glowing fuchsia crackled to life behind their attackers. A very sparkly little elf popped out sporting hair even poofier than Angel's, but with more neon highlights. The newcomer snapped his painted fingers -- nice navy color; Spike liked it-- and the curtain vanished.

"So! Are these the vampires?" The elf asked, ambling over to join them.

"Magnus Bane," Angel said. "I'll be damned."

Magnus the elf shot a heavily eye-lined look at his big, dumb grandsire. "I'm sorry, handsome. Have we met?" He sashayed over to where the ivory giant still had Angel at arrow-point.

"London, 1817. I ate your date."

"Ah! Of course. Well, that was very rude of you. If I recall correctly, I believe I burned a hole in your rear end that should have stuck with you for awhile."

Angel gave an ironic smirk. "You did."

Magnus turned to talk to the as-yet-unnamed white giant. "Darling, why aren't we killing them again? I really don't like people who eat my friends."

"I have a soul now," Angel informed them helpfully. Dolt.

"Do you?" Magnus spun back and came closer--closer than the Katniss wannbe was comfortable with, apparently, considering how much more tightly he drew back on his bow. The smaller man peered up into Angel's eyes. "Huh! So you do! Fascinating! Well, I suppose that means we can't kill them. I don't imagine you had a soul when you ate poor Thomas."

"No, I didn't. I'm sorry." Oh, for chrissake. Bring on the Angel-angst.

The warlock patted Angel on one of his giant ape shoulders. "All is forgiven, then. Shall we?"

"Is someone gonna get this bloody lightsaber out of my guts?" Spike shouted. The blond dink yanked it out, letting Spike crumple to the ground. "Son of a bitch! I really like this shirt. Buffy bought it for me."

Angel snarled, and Spike shot him a smirk.

"Ehem."

Speaking of...

The Original Slayer was a stunning lady under any circumstances, but seeing her standing there with her giant axe, side by side with Willow all a-glow with magick, and Faith holding the biggest assault rifle he'd ever seen was probably the hottest thing he'd been lucky enough to have put before his eyes in a fairly colorful un-life.

The entire anti-him and Angel assault team spun to look at the new arrivals.

"By the Angel!" The tall, dark and angry one yipped. "Who the Hell are you, now?"

"I'm the one that's going to cut your head off if you don't stop aiming that bow at my husband."

"You might also want to help Spike up," Faith threatened, and clicked off the safety on her AK.

"Now, now, now, ladies, let's not be hasty." Magnus drawled, hands up as he approached the threesome. "No one is getting hurt--" he flashed a quick glance back at Spike--"Any more hurt than they already are. We came through a portal looking for the origin of a foreign breed of vampires plaguing our city. We weren't aware these two were not the villains we sought."

Willow let her hands go out and cocked her head at Magnus. "You have magick."

Magnus snapped his fingers just enough to generate a shower of pretty impressive rainbow sparks. "I do indeed. It seems we're two of a kind, you and I."

"Um, no. No twos of any kinds, here," Buffy snapped. "Only fours of...people who... are threatening my family."

"Smooth," Spike commented.

"Shut up, Spike!" Buffy barked back.

Faith menaced the dark-haired Legolas with her rifle. "You're gonna want to put that down, sweet cheeks."

Paleface squinted his eyes at her, but obeyed. Angel let out an unnecessary breath he'd been holding like a melodramatic ponce, and stepped around the side of the crowd to stand beside Buffy. Faith came over and hauled Spike up, helping him gimp to the others. His mid-section was very unhappy about all the excitement, even as areas slightly lower were very happy to see Faith.

"I believe there is a stunning misunderstanding happening here," the Magnus-elf said. "We're merely in your dimension to track some nasty vampires that show signs of actually being demons in our world. Bumpy faces, mouth full of fangs rather than the standard two..."

Spike shifted into game face. "Like this?"

Their nemeses gasped collectively. Except the elf. "Yes, precisely. But I can see that you have a soul, as well. I assume that you're also on the side of chaotic good?"

"Actually, Angel's lawful good," Willow reported.

"Thanks...I think?" the pouf replied, clearly clueless. Meathead never played D&D in all his  crusty years.

"Yeah, I don't munch on live human-types anymore. Or, really...anything alive. Or humanoid. Hell, mostly I drink livestock blood from the microwave," Spike explained.

"Excellent!" Magnus said with a flourish. "What's say we all get a non-blood drink and talk things over while Billy Idol heals?"

Spike shrugged, deciding not to be offended by the glittery fellow. He seemed pretty cool, overall, and hadn't done anything douchey like shove a sword through Spike's body. "I could use a cold one."

The others accepted with various nods and shrugs, although the newcomers didn't seem so hot about the idea, other than the sparkly guy, and they headed for the place where they most often went for answers.

Rupert Giles' house.


	2. Chapter 2

The fine English gentleman gaped at them rather stupidly as he stood in the front door of his nice little Mediterranean-style condo. If Magnus had liked living in condominiums--which he did not--this wouldn't be such a bad one to own. Although, perhaps it was the attractiveness of its owner that lent it some of its appeal.

"Buffy. What..." he scoured the small crowd with his eyes. "Who are all of these people?"

"They're headhunters or something," the blond vampire explained, then pointed at Magnus. "That one's a magic elf."

Magnus rolled his eyes. _Vampires_. Must they always be somehow unpleasant? Beyond the blood-drinking, that is.

"It would probably be easier if we could come in and explain," the tall, dark, handsome one who was not Alec suggested.

The condo's owner didn't look like he thought that was a very good idea at all.

"Giles..." the tiny blonde girl with the _enormous_ axe complained. However did such a little bit of a thing possibly pick that monstrosity up, let alone wield it?

With a beleaguered sigh, the gentlemen stepped aside, and let the crowd into his home. It was rather lovely, decorated in a tasteful, eclectically-elegant manner, with many clearly magical objects that Magnus would not have minded owning himself. If he had any idea what they did. Random, unfamiliar magical objects as decoration were never a good idea.

"Please...everyone make yourselves comfortable?"

The group crammed themselves into a few chairs and a couch, while Magnus and Alec squashed pleasantly together on a cushy love seat.

"Tea?" their host offered.

"Ooh! I'd love some! Thank you," Magnus accepted eagerly. One thing the British had straight: everything went better with tea...if you didn't have a nice scotch.

While Mr. Giles went off to make tea, the rest of the group either stared balefully at each other, or didn't look at one another at all. Magnus took the chance to take them in.

Quite a pretty bunch, actually. And in a way, it was rather like looking in a funhouse mirror. The darker one was this reality's Alec (though not nearly as pretty, of course), the blond, clearly Jace (attitude and all), the brunette was a much more butch (sexy in a different way that Magnus couldn't help but appreciate) Isabelle. His own counterpart (if she could be called such a thing) was the red-headed witch, and if Clary was there, the axe-wielding blonde would no doubt be her doppelganger.

It was fascinating and disturbing at the same time.

Mr. Giles brought back a very nice silver tea service and set it on the coffee table at the center of the conversation area before taking the last empty chair. He looked around slowly, until his gaze came to rest on Magnus.

"I take it you're the leader of this group?"

Magnus smiled. As he put most of the sugar cubes into his tea.

"No," Jace cut in, "That would be me."

"Actually, it's _me_ ," Alec corrected him.

Izzy rolled her eyes.

"I am the eldest, here, but there isn't truly a leader as such," Magnus explained.

"Same here," said the tattooed brunette lady. "Buffy is, sort of, but we're kind of co-leaders these days."

"With the guys," the blonde said. "And Giles. And also Willow."

They really needed to introduce themselves so he could have better labels for people.

"We need to introduce ourselves," Magnus suggested. "I am Magnus Bane, the High Warlock of Brooklyn."

"Alec. Lightwood. Shadowhunter," Alec said in his usual overstated way.

"Jace Wayland. Also a Shadowhunter."

Izzy raised her hand, "Izzy Lightwood--Shadowhunter #3."

"Rupert Giles...historian."

The blonde girl snorted.

"Well, that's what my doctorate is in, and it's not as though I'm a Watcher in the strictest sense any longer!"

"It's fine, Giles," The vampire who had eaten Magnus' friend said. "I'm Angel. This is Spike."

"Hey! I can speak for myself, plonker! I'm Spike. Recalcitrant hero."

"Faith."

The redhead gave a sweet smile, and Magnus immediately liked her. "Willow Rosenburg, Witch."

Only the blonde didn't respond.

"And you..." Magnus encouraged her.

"Not at all good with any of this. I don't like it when people just pop into my dimension through portals. That never signals anything good. Especially when whatever comes out immediately threatens my family. Been there, done that, did not buy any merchandise."

He caught the larger vampire--her husband, she had said?--taking her hand and squeezing.

"They're perfectly harmless, I assure you." Magnus told her, and giving an insouciant flourish of his free hand, opened one nearby. "Anyone for Disneyworld?"

"Yeah, Magnus? You haven't been to this dimension's Disneyworld, as far as you know," Izzy reminded him helpfully.

Magnus let the spell blink out. "Good point."

"She's Buffy, by the way," the blond vampire offered, pointing to her. "Summers. Vampire Slayer. Except of us." He gestured between himself and the Slayer's husband.

"Clearly. That would make for a short marriage, otherwise."

"Now that names have been exchanged, why don't you... Shadowhunters, is it? Why don't you tell us how you came to be here. This isn't exactly a popular tourist destination."

"Whyever not? You have such a lovely canyon," Magnus pointed out.

"Yeah, that used to be a town," Faith said. "We sort of blew it up."

"*I* sort of blew it up, thank you very much," the English vampire said. "This is boring. I need a smoke."

"I'll come with," said the tattooed brunette, and the two exited the way they'd come in.

"Interesting," Magnus said in regard to everything in general. "As for why we came--"

"We guard the mundane world from the demon realm in our dimension. We're used to dealing with vampires, but all of a sudden there were these new demons that also drank blood and shared a lot of other characteristics of the ones we know, but that were different enough to catch our attention. For instance, they were just leaving the bodies of their victims lying around where anyone could find them. It doesn't really work that way in our world." Jace said, stomping all over Magnus' speech. So typical. Ah well.

"Mundane?" Angel wondered aloud. 

"Human. Non-magical," Magnus offered.

"Ah. Okay."

"Witnesses reported stuff like the demon features: yellow eyes, the bumpy face, weird fangs. And this," Isabelle held out the gem Magnus had given her. "It glows when there are demons nearby. Vampires don't set it off in our realm. We figured out they were coming in from one particular area, so we tracked them."

"I opened a portal, and voila," Magnus concluded. "Although I'm not certain what happened with your stalwart sanguinary knights, here. The others arrived shortly before me."

"They were practically right there when the portal opened," Alec said, glowering at the vampires. "Izzy's necklace was going crazy. They didn't offer a friendly welcome."

"You appeared out of nowhere," Angel said. "And as my wife pointed out, portals don't tend to bring anything good to or from our world. It was a knee-jerk reaction."

"And Jace did skewer first and ask absolutely no questions," Izzy added.

Angel's face darkened. "Don't worry, Spike deserves it."

Ooh, there was a story there, no doubt, that Magnus would really enjoy.

"It sounds like a reasonable--if unfortunate--mistake," Mr. Giles said.

"Yeah. Unfortunate," Angel grumbled. "That Jace didn't finish the job."

"So what you're saying is that vampires from our world--which _are_ actually demons, by the way--are somehow travelling to your world by portal, and causing trouble there."

"Almost a dozen exsanguinated bodies sets off some dire alarm bells, owing to recent events.There are peace Accords in place that regulate various species' interactions with the mundane world," Magnus told him. "For example, our vampires are not allowed to feed from humans under any circumstances. It's considered a grievous crime, and offenders are punished severely for it."

"Although some of them get away," Alec grouched, "Or are set free for questionable reasons."

" _Alec_ ," Magnus, Jace, and Izzy chorused.

His love was such a grudge-holder. If Magnus didn't think Camille should be hunted down and staked--which he no doubt should, considering what the bitch had done to him and to many innocents over the years--he didn't see why Alec needed to.

"I see," The Englishman said, tugging off his glasses and cleaning them on the edge of his shirt. "It would seem you need to find out how they're generating this portal, and where."

"Approximately. Yes. I can destroy it from this side, but I need to know precisely where it is first. It's a delicate operation to be rid of one portal in such a way that it doesn't hinder the creation of another. Otherwise, we would all be trapped here. Not that your world isn't lovely, I'm sure, Mr. Giles."

"No, no, of course. You seem to have important business in your dimension, as we do here. To remove you could cause issues on many levels."

"You don't know the half of it," Izzy said.

The shorter vampire and the sexy tattooed brunette returned from their time outside, and they looked mussed and out of breath in a way that Magnus knew full well didn't come from sharing nothing but a _cigarette._

"We should get started," Mr. Giles said, "You don't want to lose the moonlight."


	3. Chapter 3

Angel kept his eyes on all of their new acquaintances, relatively certain they wouldn't make any false moves, but not willing to take any chances when Buffy was still not at 100%. She was recovering from a nasty encounter with a pack of 'Lcheyx demons several nights ago. They had simply come to spend a few days with Giles, but a sudden, acute, and completely unexpected increase in demon activity had the other members of their family living nearby moving to join them in order to check it out.

There was something going on, and he would be willing to bet his right hand that it had something to do with the Hellmouth, closed or not. Now, with these Shadowhunters and Magnus Bane reporting strange activity in their own dimension...he was starting to think the trouble they faced was more serious than they initially assumed. There was no such thing as a coincidence, in his experience.

It was the warlock he watched most closely of all. Not only because he was flamboyant and colorful, relaxed and obviously easy in his own skin--things Angel was not and had never truly been--but because of his attitude. How could this man seem so unconcerned that Angel had murdered what looked like a very intimate friend only yards away from where Magnus stood, helpless, watching in horror? It had taken the warlock precious seconds to shake himself out of his stupor and raise the magick that almost dusted Angel...but came far too late to save his friend.

Yet Magnus seemed to hold nothing against him, didn't hesitate to reach out the hand of an ally to the monster that so horribly butchered his partner in the middle of Grosvenor Square.

As they walked along the tidy streets of the housing community that had sprung up around what used to be his home, Angel made his way to be closer to Magnus and his lover.

"Hey," he greeted the warlock.

Magnus flashed him a smile. "Hello, there."

Magnus' current partner was not so sanguine. His hateful glare was about as dark as Angel had ever seen on someone that wasn't about to try and stake him or cut his head off. Or who wasn't Spike.

"I'd like to talk to you for a minute, if you don't mind," Angel ventured.

The shorter man gave a gentle look to the Shadowhunter beside him--a look Angel more than recognized as one he gave Buffy every day--and pressed the branded archer's hand to his lips. "Could we have a moment, Alexander?"

The hazel eyes narrowed at Angel, and the full mouth twisted a little further. Angel could fully understand this young man's attitude as well. Protectiveness for the one he loved. Not that Magnus Bane seemed to need a lot of protection.

"Sure. I'll be right here," he said, and stepped back to fall in line beside the blond soldier.

"What can I do for you, Angelus?" Magnus asked.

Angel couldn't tell if it was meant as to be a verbal blow, but it certainly hit him like one.

"I just wanted to say again how--"

Magnus held up a heavily be-ringed hand...with dark fingernail polish. "I've already told you, there's no need for apologies. I've had dealings with the kind of vampires found here in the past. The veil between our worlds is not always as solid as we like to believe. London wasn't the first, nor the last time I have encountered your kind. When you've lived as long as I have, there isn't lot you don't see--good or bad."

Angel nodded. He certainly knew how that felt. Who would have known that this strange magician from another dimension and he would have so much in common? Watching time pass brought joys and sorrows to every being who lived too long.

"Thank you. That's very generous of you."

The warlock made a fancy flourish. "Think nothing of it. Angel, if I hated every being who had ever done me a slight, there wouldn't be a single one in any dimension that I could share a cup of tea with."

Okay...

"Here," the pretty dark-haired Shadowhunter woman said, looking down at her ruby necklace. It was glowing a blazing red. "They're close."

"You know," Spike said, "This used to be a Hellmouth. These could be anything, not just vampires."

"Well, there are a lot of whatever it is," Magnus' partner pointed out, pulling his bow from his back and cocking an arrow in an impressively smooth motion.

Buffy brought up her crossbow. Of course, no one was as impressive as his wife.

They came in what seemed like instant waves from somewhere nearby. At least two dozen vampires, like a swarm of locusts come to devour the group of warriors. Angel brandished his broadsword, Buffy her ax, and Faith a pretty impressive wooden naginata she had acquired while gathering Slayers in Japan. The newcomers besides Alec had their glowing swords, and a similar, smaller blade besides. Mangus Bane bore blazing blue fire in his hands, and Willow was chanting softly under her breath. She had developed a spell, he knew, that could make vampires explode from the inside.

In a moment, the battle had begun.


	4. Chapter 4

If Magnus had been alone, he would have been gone the moment he realized that they were impossibly outnumbered. He was no fool.

But he was a fool for love. Alexander would never leave his siblings, no matter how impossible the fight, and Magnus would never leave Alexander.

This world's heroes were very impressive, smooth and practiced in their technique. Clearly, they dealt with these kinds of monsters all the time. Even so, the vampires kept coming, kept double and triple-teaming them, and Alec was forced to abandon the bow and join his siblings in using their seraph blades. Magnus could swear that for every one he exploded in fire and ash, two more appeared.

This was not like any kind of demon attack Magnus had ever seen, and he had seen more than his share.

Apparently, the blonde Slayer, Bunny, agreed with his estimation. "Something's wrong here!" She shouted, chopping two heads off in one spectacular spinning sweep of her axe.

"You mean besides the legion of blood spawn trying to--" Spike kicked a vampire on to Faith's ninja staff, where it politely exploded. "Eat us for a midnight snack? What the everlivin' Hell?"

"We can't take them all!" Angel shouted. "We need to get out of here!"

"Fall back!" Jace added.

"All of you go! I'll hold them off as long as I can!" Magnus said, drawing a hotter green fire and turning it into a blazing wall to temporarily separate them from the demons.

"I won't leave you!" Alec said, and took the moment's delay the wall provided to use his bow and arrows once again.

"I'll help!" the little witch said, and let her own surprisingly substantial energy fly, shoring Magnus' up. He had heard over the years that there were mundanes that could use magick, but he never thought they could be so strong. She drew from everywhere around them: the earth, the wind, even the moisture in the air. He could feel her pulling it into herself, and then pouring it into him. It was quite a heady experience.

But it wasn't enough. These were no simple demons. They started tearing through Magnus' magic as if it was made of paper, and started pouring through the holes.

"RUN!" he screamed, and though it galled him, he turned and did just that.

They hadn't gone more than a few yards when Magnus heard Alec cry out in pain. He whipped around and saw his love fall beneath what seemed a tidal wave of demons.

"NO! ALEXANDER!" It was automatic to start casting, flinging demons left and right, while the witch chanted Latin incantations that made them burst into flame as they flew. Magnus slid to his knees besides Alec, and only a moment later, felt the larger vampire easily lift him into a fireman's carry.

"Can you portal us out of here?" Angel asked him.

Magnus was stunned into inaction by Alec's injuries: the amount of blood that seemed to be pouring from every part of his body. How his already usually pale skin had blanched a deathly gray.

"Magnus!" Angel shouted.

"Yes! Yes!" he gathered all of the power he still had left--which was waning quickly--and drew a portal. He hoped it would lead somewhere safe, because he didn't have time to focus it.

With a familiar crackle-snap, they plunged into the doorway.


	5. Chapter 5

They were in a cave. Angel didn't recognize it, but at the moment, he couldn't waste time being concerned. He carefully lay the injured Shadowhunter in the groove of a large stone, and before he could pull off his coat to use as a pillow, the flashy silk number the warlock had been wearing was already balled up, and Magnus was tenderly holding Alec's head as he tucked it beneath.

"Willow, can you help me again? My magic is weak."

"Sure, of course. " Willow sat cross-legged beside him, and began a chant in what he thought might be Aramaic. Her body glowed a bright, soft blue, and he watched as the light poured from her and surrounded Magnus. Magnus knelt beside his lover, hands flat, passing that same light to Alec.

It was only himself, Buffy, Willow, Magnus and Alec in the cave--he had no idea what happened to the others, could only hope they were able to get away. No one spoke aloud besides Willow, but Angel could hear the warlock murmuring softly as he worked.

"Come on, Alexander. You're not leaving me. Not now, I won't have it. You know how I am when I don't get my way. I'd march right into Hell and take on my father to get you back, and that could never come out well. Please, my love. I need you."

The plaintive sound of those last words took hold of Angel's dead heart and squeezed hard. He remembered with perfect clarity how he felt when he returned from Pylea to find Willow, hollow-eyed and silent, sitting in the lobby of the Hyperion, and knew beyond any doubt that Buffy was dead.

He reached out to her automatically at the memory, and took her trembling hand. Watching the scene before them hit her the same way too. So many times they had faced one another's death...only by the grace of the Powers were they still here. Together in a way they never thought they could be.

"I love you," she mouthed silently.

"I love you, too."

Magnus turned eyes wet with pain to them. "I have to get him home. I need ingredients. Blood. A comfortable place for him to rest. _I can't let him die._ "

Willow kept chanting, but looked increasingly concerned. Even Angel could see the magick she and Magnus were sharing was beginning to fade.

"What can we do?" Buffy asked.

"Do you know where we are?" the warlock asked.

Angel moved to the mouth of the cave and looked out into the night. The scene wasn't familiar, and yet he instantly knew where they were. He could feel the old energy, faded and dissipated, but still pulsing all around them. "Sunnydale Canyon."

"What? Really?" Buffy came running over beside him to look out. It appeared like any other desert canyon, all red clay and brown stone, coated with a fine layer of dirt. There was no sign for miles that there had ever been a bustling town there.

"Can you get blood?" Magnus asked.

"Yes. I can get it. Do you have enough power to portal me back to Giles'? I have contacts in Cliffside," they were, he hoped, still part of the kind of dark network that could easily get human blood.

Magnus looked exhausted, his own skin pale. Willow had now taken his hand for a direct connection, and both of them shook with the effort.

"I don't know. I can try," he said.

"What's his blood type?"

"He has angel blood. It has to be O Negative, and I can spell it to work. Please get an IV kit if you can." He stopped sending the energy into his lover and circled his arms. "Please hurry."

The portal took some time to manifest, and Angel couldn't help but be concerned about its stability, considering how much magic Magnus had been using in the past hour. He pulled Buffy to him and kissed her soundly.

"I'll be back," he said, hoping it was true. "I love you."

"I love you," she said in return, and the misery and fear was clear in her voice.

He gave one last look to the suffering warlock and his dying lover, and stepped into the portal.


	6. Chapter 6

Magnus simply had nothing left. He couldn't even be certain where he just sent the kind vampire who had so generously offered to put himself on the line to help. Frankly, he didn't care.

There was no mistaking Alexander's condition. His pallor was no longer pale, but a sickly blue-gray. His breathing was labored, and his pulse erratic. Nothing Magnus was doing helped.

He had held so many loved ones in his hands, in his arms, while they died, and while he saw it in Alexander at that moment, he refused to allow it to happen. He would give every last ounce of his own immortal life force to stop it. He would die himself. It had to be possible. Couldn't he trade his soul to Asmodeus for Alec's life? Certainly his father would appreciate the painful irony of it, and make the trade for his own amusement.

But Magnus didn't even have the ingredients or the power left he would need to summon the bastard.

He eased off on the useless healing magic, knowing for now he had done all he could, and hoping he could save what small about was left for other things. He heard the witch and the Slayer talking softly behind him, and though he didn't listen to the words, there was no doubt what the sympathetic tone meant.

They knew his beloved was dying, too. He had sent Angel on a fool's errand.

Magnus clutched Alec's hand to his chest, and bent to softly kiss his cool, clammy forehead. It seemed to be the only part of him that wasn't covered in wounds or blood. A sob choked the warlock, and he shoved it down. He would _not_ mourn Alexander when he wasn't dead. As long as his stalwart Shadowhunter heart still beat, however weakly, there was hope. It may be slim, fading by the moment, but Magnus would never let it go.

He would never let his life's greatest love slip through his hands.

"Alexander. Can you hear me? Please, open your eyes."

It was stupid, he knew. Alec was barely alive, he certainly wasn't going to miraculously regain--

"Magnus?"

"Yes! Alec, I'm here. You're fine. You're going to be all right. I promise," he lied, squeezing Alec's pale hand tightly against his heart, as if he could will his own life into his love's fading form.

"Know I'm in trouble...when you call me...Alec."

"Sh. Rest, my love. Don't waste your energy." He brushed a soft kiss to Alec's lips to quiet him. They were so cold, Magnus almost set to weeping all over again.

"M-magnus...have to tell you."

"No, no, you don't have to tell me anything. Not now, there will be time later." By the Angel, let there be time later.

"Love you."

It was the first time he'd said it. Magnus had seen it in his eyes, felt it in his touch a hundred times, but hearing the words in that faded, broken voice ripped through him like fire and ice. A gift he had been waiting for, hoping for for so long, but like this? He didn't want it. He would trade it a million times if only Alec would live.

"Oh, Alexander, I love you too. So much. From the first moment I saw you, I've only loved you more every moment since. But please. There's time for this later. When we're home in my bed, drinking champagne off of each other's chests and making love until we can't stay conscious anymore. That's when you tell me you love me, do you understand?"

Alec gave a weak imitation of a laugh. "Yeah. Understand." He tried his best to squeeze Magnus' hand, but the lack of strength in that usually strong hand broke his heart all over again.

"Please don't die, Alexander. I couldn't bear it. Don't leave me alone again."

"You're not...alone anymore. Izzy. Jace. Clary...Simon."

"I don't want them! I want you!" he cried as Alec's eyes slipped shut once more. His breathing and heartbeat slowed, and everything inside Magnus went still.

He would follow his love into the dark. There would be no surviving this.

There was a blazing flash of yellow and blue light, like being shoved into a corridor of glitter and fire, and for a moment, Magnus thought he _had_ died with Alexander, and they were about to arrive wherever beings such as they went. What if Magnus and Alec didn't go to the same place? Alec was of the angels, after all, and Magnus... was not. Would being separated in death be any better than being separated _by_ death?

He hit something hard, and had his breath crushed out of him. For a moment, he couldn't focus, and all around him was hot and dark and agony.

So. Hell, then.

"Magnus? Magnus!"

Wherever he was, Alexander was there too. He struggled, but couldn't find the energy to even open his eyes, let alone rise. Disembodied voices were the only sensations that reached him.

"What happened to him?"

"Something went wrong with the Seelie portal, I think. I told him to work one of his own to go to that reality."

Catarina Loss? What...

"Can you help him?" a large, warm hand took his, and full, warm lips kissed its knuckles. The kisses hurt like every inch of Magnus had been beaten with giant, spiked cudgels, but he didn't care. If he was dead, that was fine, as long as Alec would keep touching him.

"I'll do what I can. What he really needs is rest. A lot of it."

"He'll get it."

Magnus drifted in an out after that, feeling Catarina's talented healing power lift him like floating on clouds, then crash him to earth once more when the pain returned. But every time he came back to reality, he heard Alec's voice. Felt his touch. Smelled his clean, masculine sandalwood scent.

Death could have Magnus. Alec survived, and so he no longer cared.

"You're not dying, Magnus," his love murmured in his ear, "I won't let you."

That was fine too, then.


	7. Chapter 7

The next time Magnus regained consciousness, something fat and hairy was sitting on his face, trying to suffocate him. And not in a fun way.

It took some effort, but he managed to pick up one of his very heavy arms and shove the cat off his head.

" _Church_ ," he hissed at the hateful feline.

Church hissed back, clearly offended that Magnus hadn't possessed the good manners to die, and waddled away.

"Hey."

Such a simple word, and yet, filled with so much meaning. It flooded Magnus, gave him wakefulness he didn't feel like he could manage otherwise. He slowly turned his head to see Alec approach his bed and sit down beside him.

Magnus refused to flinch at the pain as Alec took his hand and kissed his knuckles in what must be a new habit that Magnus would say he was rather enjoying.

"Alexander," he said, and it came out as an embarrassing croak.

"Let me get you some water," he tried to rise, but  Magnus held him still, shaking his head. Which dislodged some large and ragged boulders that crashed around inside his skull, a rather uncomfortable state of affairs, but worth it since his love stayed close. He was _alive_. He was here, beside him. Sure, Magnus felt as though he had been beaten to death, fed through a chipper-shredder, set on fire, and eaten by wolves, but it was a small price to pay.

"What..." Maybe the water was a good idea after all. Alexander must have agreed, because he got up with a gentle smile and disappeared for what felt like forever, while Magnus lost consciousness again for a few moments. He snapped back instantly when Alec sat back down on the edge of the bed, and slid his hand gently behind Magnus' head, helping him lean up and gulp the entire glass down in a few moments.

He must be in terrible condition, if only that small activity made him so _tired_.

Alec looked down at him with such concern and fear marring his angel's features, his big hand brushing Magnus' no-doubt hideous bedhead back from his face. "We were worried about you," he said, "Catarina was worried about you."

"Catarina doesn't get worried," Magnus said.

"She was worried this time. Magnus...what happened in the other dimension?"

Frankly, a lot of it was fuzzy to Magnus, and growing fuzzier by the moment. But there was no forgetting a single ghastly detail of Alexander dying in his arms. In his many years, he had loved and lost and lost and lost, but nothing had ever felt the way feeling Alec leave him did. It was as if a monster made of nothing but horns, teeth, and talons had torn him apart from inside his heart outward.

"You don't remember?" he asked. Perhaps Alec's near-death experience wiped out what they experienced over there.

"Magnus...I wasn't there with you. We waited here."

He was utterly still for a moment, waiting for his breath to return and another wave of pain to pass. "No, that's impossible. You, Isabelle, and Jace were already there when I arrived." Confusion swamped him, and in his current condition, it was quite difficult to muddle through it to any sort of logic.

Alec shook his head. "No, I wasn't. Meliorn only made the portal for you to pass through. He said it was too dangerous for the rest of us. If we weren't able to stay focused on the differences between our world and that one, we might be trapped there forever. Only you were immune to it because of your magic."

"And..."

"And you went through. You were only gone for a few minutes, but..." he swallowed hard. "When you came back through, you were...almost...gone. If Catarina hadn't come when she did, you wouldn't have made it."

"Alexander... you're crushing my hand, sweetheart."

"Sorry, I just...Magnus," his light eyes filled with uncharacteristic tears. "I never even thought about the possibility that _you_ would be the one to die on _me_. With the way I live, my life is always on the line. I grew up that way, I'm used to it. But you? You're supposed to be immortal. Eternal. I assumed that when I was gone, you would go on. It always... makes me feel better. More stable. Like you're the ground I'm built on, you know? If you were just...not there anymore..."

"Oh, Alec." He pressed Alec's cool hand against his feverish face and pressed a kiss to the Tracking rune in its palm. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be sorry. Just...don't almost die again, okay? I can't take it."

Magnus couldn't find the strength or the will to tell Alec the same. That would require revealing a long, painful story he didn't yet feel up to sharing. If he ever did at all. How do you tell someone you love how much it hurt to watch them leave you, leave this world that they've made a better place, forever? Or how it utterly destroyed you in the process? Especially when they had just been through something similar?

"I promise," he said, and hoped beyond hope that it was true.


	8. Chapter 8

His recovery was long, painful, and arduous.  Magnus still had trouble getting around, and tired easily. He was ashamed, not of having to rely as much as he did on Alexander, but because he enjoyed the attention so much. Alec made himself more available to Magnus than he had ever been, and there was no doubt he had to be neglecting his Shadowhunter duties to do so.

But on those days when Alec's duties drew him away, Magnus was so bored, he almost wished he had died. At least in Hell, he wouldn't be trapped on the couch, tucked up in an afghan, reading and eating Girl Scout cookies all day like some stereotypical lazy, fat, rich lady. Even the cats looked at him askance as he occupied their usual daytime napping place.

Magnus could not remember ever being so drained of magic before. And considering he had taken part in some violent wars, that was saying something. Catarina told him it had something to do with the particular dimension they had traveled to, and that the Seelie magic didn't offer the same protections for travelers that the portals Magnus invented did.

He had been lucky, she said. So much of his life in recent memory seemed based on luck. Based on the incredible luck of meeting Alexander, in fact.

Remembering that cave...feeling Alec's powerful young life slip away right in his hands... it was a trauma that he was in no way prepared for. Despite returning to this dimension and the glorious truth that his love was alive and well after all still did little to dissipate the new terror that had taken up trembling residence in Magnus' ancient heart.

Magnus always knew that Alec would pass away from him one day. It was the mournful truth of every immortal who loved one of the short-lived. Abstractly, he understood that he and Alec, if they were lucky, might have half a century, or perhaps even 70 years, together. He always knew intellectually that as a Shadowhunter, Alexander's life might be cut unnaturally short at any moment.

But knowing and actually _experiencing_ it were entirely unrelated, torturous, bloodthirsty animals.

It was always his assumption, as Alexander said recently, that Magnus would go on. He would never love again, certainly. He had hardly wanted to give his heart to the young mortal to begin with. Now, once given this last time, however, it would not be gifted to another, even if Magnus lived until the stars fell. Alec was his life's one true love. Not his first, perhaps, but certainly his last. Still, he thought he would survive Alexander's death at least physically intact, if not dead in spirit.

Now, he wasn't so sure. It was entirely possible that he had given so much of himself to his Shadowhunter, that he might not survive Alec's true death at all.

He spent the day brooding himself into a dark depression, and by the time his love returned home, tired and clearly sore, Magnus was almost afraid to be close to him. This ethereal being, this fragile heart that so freely gave Magnus so much, could simply cease to be at any moment. How could he bear to touch him?

Alec had no such qualms. He came to the couch, lifted Magnus' legs and sat, resting them back on his lap. He immediately started rubbing Magnus' feet.

"Hello, my love," he greeted him, "Shouldn't I be doing that for you?"

" _You_ are still recovering. I'm just a little tired."

"My Alexander..." he sighed, letting his head fall back on the arm of the overstuffed velvet sofa Catarina had spelled up for him to recover on, and enjoyed the attention of his warrior's strong, capable hands. Alec's gentle caress made Magnus wonder how such love and generosity could ever die, could ever simply cease to be. It seemed impossible to him in that moment, but then, he lived much of his life in denial, where death could not demolish the life of those he loved.

"Mm?"

"Thank you. For saving me."

"I wasn't going to let anything happen to you. I never will," Alec replied.

"I don't mean just now." Magnus eased his feet to the floor and slid closer to where Alec sat, and shifted so they were pressed together, hip to hip. It felt like forever since they had touched more than holding hands or a gentle kiss. Alexander had been so gentle, always treating Magnus as if he were made of very thin glass. Maybe he had been that delicate. But now...

Now he just wanted to feel his love--his vital, living love--against him once more.

Magnus rose to his knees, straddling Alec's lap, and took the beloved face in his hands. He knew every detail of it: the high, proud cheekbones, the strong jaw, the big, green eyes. Those lips. The lips he could never get far out of his memory, the soft feel, the sweet taste of them. He took those moments to touch each one, feel every inch of the serious, arched brow, the carved temples and chin, until finally he kissed him.

Alexander had kissed Magnus since he'd come back from...wherever it is he had gone, but it was always so tentative, so tender, full of gentle fear that he might hurt Magnus further. They had touched, held hands, held each other in the night, but Alec was always so careful. It reminded Magnus of the way he once treated Alexander, before they made love and the Shadowhunter became more comfortable in his own skin, more sure of the things he could do with his young, fit, strong body...

The kiss stopped being soft, and Magnus mentally cut off the pain that threatened to wash over him again. He refused to be weak anymore. And he refused to be separated from Alexander in any way, ever again.

"Magnus..." Alec half-sighed, half-warned, making a half-hearted attempt to stop him by pushing against his chest, but Magnus just grabbed his hands and trapped them above Alec's head as he went on with his mouth's explorations of flesh tasted so delicious it was as if he'd never tasted it before. Alexander was warm and smooth, so tough, brushed with faded scars and a day's worth of beard. Magnus held him still and mapped the same places his fingers had, but now with lips and tongue. Alec stopped struggling, relaxing with a moan. "Magnus... we...shouldn't..."

It was so clear he didn't mean it, Magnus would have laughed if he wasn't so desperate for more, to take this man who had set up a home in his heart and soul, who possessed Magnus body and mind, to the point where none of what they could do right now seemed like it could ever be enough. If only he could take Alexander deep inside him--completely, not just the usual way--and keep him there forever, feed him with his immortality...

His thoughts were getting gross, and it was time to let them go. Magnus brushed his hands down the familiar hills and valleys of Alec's torso, that familiarity that was never boring, that he never got used to, that he could never get used to. He slipped his fingers beneath the bottom of Alec's tee shirt and tugged it upward, letting go of his hands long enough to yank the material off and toss it away, then return to enjoy the broad, hard chest even more with nothing covering it.

Gods, he loved this man. In the spiritual sense, romantic sense, yes, of course, but this... Magnus had been intimate, sexual with...more beings than he could possibly remember, but he knew for certain he had never felt like this. The fire, the magic that snapped to life, raging over every nerve, how hard and needful his body was, how he could feel his own heart rioting, his blood boiling, his cock so rigid and starving for... in, just in, just a little touch, a fist, a mouth, anything.

It was like being possessed in the best possible way.

Magnus made his dressing gown vanish with a snap, disintegrated whatever was keeping him from Alec's lower body, and dove once more to take his mouth. Alec cried out as he clutched at Magnus' back, drove blunt nails into his muscles, dragged them down to his ass and arched up into Magnus at the same time.

The friction of their erections struck like flint, the power they always generated together crackling electric red, burning yellow, passion fire.

"I want you. Right now, Alexander. Right now."

"Yes!" Alec tangled his fingers in Magnus' hair and held him prisoner with bruising kisses, bites on Magnus' lip that he returned in blissful kind. Their body temperatures rose together, their thundering hearts galloping as one, as it so often happened, the pleasure that each one experienced separately, they fed into one another through their skin, their tongues, their hands. "Take me, Magnus. Fuck me!"

Magnus knew nothing but red, and skin, and desperate hunger. He had barely enough presence of mind to think "ad otium modo" before he threw one of Alec's long legs over his shoulder, and drove himself home, inward and home, home, home. The only sound in the room was Alec's gasps, the smack of flesh on flesh, Magnus' animal grunts as he took this body, the body he loved and wanted and needed more than he ever had in his long, forever, empty existence.

There had never been lovemaking before this, before Alec.

He was lost in it, hands clamped on Alec's shoulders for purchase as he fucked him, hard and fast and without any mercy at all, or concern for his own injuries. There was only the urge to rut, to drive inward, to own Alec with all of his strength. But Alec gave plenty in kind. He bit and scratched, thrust up with his strong core to meet Magnus' passionate assault, snarled and roared and screamed the warlock's name.

It went on forever, the storm they created. Fire and lightning, one body, one flesh, one blood, one heart, and the power of it rushed through him on a torrent of exquisite pleasure that he would have been afraid would drown him, if he didn't want it to so badly. It detonated at his center, sending him into convulsions and forcing a noise from his mouth that might have been Alec's name, might have been a blessing or a curse in some magical language, long forgotten. It echoed off the walls of the loft, setting every candle aflame, exploding all the electric lights and shattering every window. The world flashed red, then white, then...

Everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "ad otium modo" means, basically, "to ease the way"...if you get my meaning. :D


	9. Chapter 9

"Magnus...are you dead? I think I'm dead," he heard the groan from a great distance, as if he and Alec were on opposite ends of a very long tunnel...full of water. Or possibly cotton balls. He wasn't sure if he was hearing anything at all.

"Mm," was all he could say. He certainly couldn't be expected to move.

"I think the loft's on fire," Alec went on, but he didn't move either. Slowly, Magnus' other senses returned to him. He realized that he still lay, sprawled and limp on top of Alec's amazing, but currently steaming hot and terribly sticky body. They were lying in a pile of splintered wood and torn fabric that Magnus could almost identify as the remains of his couch. He managed to move his hand, and flicked what little magic remained inside him to put out the fires they'd started around the apartment. The room was dark except for the dozens of candles burning all around. The night wind whistled through the gaping holes in the wall where the windows once were.

"Fine now," he said, and lay his head back down. This seemed like a much better place to expire than in his boring bed. The music of Alexander's thundering heartbeat was far more beautiful than any string quartet he might have wanted at his funeral.

One of Alec's big, gentle hands came to rest on Magnus' head, softly stroking his hair. "That was..."

"Mm," Magnus agreed.

His own heart was pounding so hard, it sounded like someone was slamming their fists against the loft door.

"There's someone at the door," Alec dared to say. So rude, to interrupt Magnus' death by sex.

With an exhausted sigh, Magnus rolled hesitantly to the side, sitting up enough to draw the runes that would set everything to rights, make the damage vanish, furnish the room with a new couch, install new windows, and even replace his and Alec's clothes. Although all he could manage was a silky robe for each of them. Also, he couldn't get up off the floor.

Alexander all but picked Magnus up and set him on the couch before covering him with his favorite afghan and tucking him in. He took a moment to look into Magnus' eyes, gifting him with the warmest, sweetest smile, and the warlock wished beyond wishing that they had time to share all the things he saw there.

But the banging on the door was getting louder, and there were voices now besides, asking if they were there.

"I'll get it. Don't move," Alexander said, and padded to the door, unconcerned about the fancy embroidered black silk robe he might usually have complained about being seen in. He slid the door open.

Outside stood the tiny blonde girl and her large, handsome vampire husband from the other dimension. All the things Magnus had tried to forget returned in a rush, and he gasped as the pain of Alec's death hit him yet again like a brick in his already weak heart. Alec threw him a concerned look, but then glanced back at their guests.

"Can I help you? How did you get up here without the buzzer?"

The blonde--Bunny?--shrugged. "I hit all the buttons until somebody buzzed me up."

"That's it, I'm evicting everyone in this building," Magnus grumbled. "Come in, Bunny, Angelo!"

The pair glanced at one another, then at Alec, who did not look like he planned on respecting Magnus' wish to grant them entry.

"Alexander, it's fine. I know them. I think."

The pair came in, and it was clear they were trying not to look at the way he and Alec were dressed, or think anything about the undeniable scent of fire and sex that still lingered in the air.

"Please, sit."

He was struck again at what an interesting couple they were, and even more of an anachronism than he and Alexander: she, the tiny blonde Vampire Slayer, charged with protecting her world from evil, he, the large, dark vampire, once a fairly terrifying symbol of evil himself. It was kind of sexy.

They sat on the settee across from the sofa, the only piece of furniture in the room that would hold them both at once. Magnus felt a sense of camaraderie with the pair--he didn't like to be separated from Alexander, either.

"Can I get you something?" said beloved nephilim asked them, not even expecting to be introduced, which only made Magnus love him more. Alec thought so little of his wonderfulness, his importance to the world, Magnus swore he would spend as many years as he and Alexander had to spend together trying to show him.

"I'm fine, thanks," Angel said politely.

"We can get you something that might suit," Magnus offered. "I know a vampire who...may have a source." He flashed a glance at Alec, who just scowled, but pretended he didn't hear. Possession of human blood by vampires was strictly prohibited. But much like Magnus' own attitude toward the law, Raphael didn't give it much thought if it worked against his best interests.

This time, Angel's eyes ticked to his wife beside him, and that look spoke volumes. Magnus would bet a great many of his most valuable jewels and antiques that the vampire didn't feed in front of his Slayer.

"No, that's fine. Thank you."

"If you have some water, that'd be great," Buffy said with a sweet smile. "Travelling by...magicky-portally-thingy is sort of dry work."

"Willow did most of the work," Angel reminded her.

"Yeah, thanks for sharing that," his wife grumbled.

Magnus just sat and grinned. Yes, their interactions to date might have been highly unpleasant and involved Alexander's...thankfully not-death...but he rather liked them.

Alec returned with Magnus' Reed and Barton King Francis tray, which had upon it a carafe of ice water, several glasses, and a giant Manhattan that Magnus could have knocked him on the floor and blown him for an hour in thanks for.

Once everyone had their glasses, Alexander sat, and Magnus resisted the urge to gulp down his delicious drink. Alec had taken to making to taking cocktails like a pro, only needing to see a recipe once to get it right. He was the same way in the kitchen, which suited Magnus just fine, since he could barely manage to magick food, and sadly couldn't live on his own delicious liquor creations.

"You remember Alexander," Magnus ventured. How much did this couple recall about what had happened, if, as it seemed, neither Alec or the others had been in the other dimension at all?

"Hi. Nice to see you're...not dead," Buffy said, looking uncomfortable.

Angel just nodded sagely, knowing full well there was no good way to address the strange situation.

"Yeah, that's... sort of interesting," Alec replied. "Magnus should probably explain, since I only know the tail end of things after _he_ came back half-dead."

"Actually," Magnus said, "I'd rather hear what the two of you remember. Whatever happened to me on the way home scrambled my own memories a bit."

Both Buffy and Angel looked at Alec at the same time, as if they were sharing the thought, 'Just how much did he want to know about his grisly death?'

"You were attacked by demons," Angel explained, "Magnus portalled us all into a cave in the canyon... Sunnydale Canyon. You were in pretty dire shape. I went back to the town to find some blood for you."

Buffy picked up the tale. "Willow--my witch friend--shared power with Magnus, and they tried to heal you, but..." she sent a brief, compassionate glance to Magnus, and the warlock felt it like a pang in his heart. "It wasn't helping. Magnus pretty much said you were... gone... and then you were both _gone_. Like not there anymore gone. There was this crackle and a flash of greenish yellow light, and poof. Warlock and dead boyfriend gone. God, I'm sorry," she said, realizing how harsh she sounded.

Magnus blinked at her, feeling Alec go rigid beside him. Perhaps hearing in passing that he had died in some dimension he'd never really been to was one thing, but meeting other people who had witnessed it was completely different. Undoubtedly more real. He reached down and took his love's hand, glad himself for the reassuring contact. Hearing Belle and Andrew tell the tale had certainly re-opened the wound in Magnus's soul.

"It's fine," Alec said flatly.

"The others--our... _friends,"_ Angel choked out, "Spike and Faith said the same thing happened to Isabelle and Jace. They were running, just a few feet from Giles' door and safety, and they just disappeared. Spike and Faith made it in the house, where the vampires couldn't follow."

Both Magnus and Alec shared a confused look.

"Don't your vampires need an invitation to enter the dwelling of a living person?" Angel asked.

"Not that I'm aware of," Magnus replied, thinking of how many times Raphael and...*shudder* Camille had barged into his home not only without invitation, but with a complete absence of desire from the domicile's owner.

"Well, thankfully, in our world they do."

"I don't know what happened," Buffy added, giving Alec a soft smile, "But I'm glad you're okay. What about the others? Did they make it back all right?"

Magnus heaved a weary sigh and, his Manhattan finished, magicked a double scotch, neat, into his hand. Forget all of Alexander's rules about doing simple things by hand and not being so lazy. This situation called for a lack of energy expenditure and a fast delivery of more alcohol.

"None of us were there at all," Alec said, "We're not sure how it happened, but...Jace, Izzy and I weren't in your dimension. The magick was Seelie--I think you'd probably call them elves or fae--and only Magnus could make it through that way, because of his magick. We don't know who the other people with you were."

"It's possible they were from another dimension," Magnus said quietly, not meaning for anyone to hear.

Everyone did, of course.

"What?" Alexander asked.

Another long story. Terrific. Just what he was in the mood for. "Clary told me that some time ago, before we defeated Valentine and the circle, that Meliorn helped her travel to another dimension in order to find her father. It's a rather complicated story, but all of us--including me--had alternate selves. She had to be careful not to let her true self forget about her reality, or she would simply be lost in that one. Point being...it confirms a theory I've always maintained that there are as many versions of ourselves as there are possible realities. Every decision one makes opens a new reality, and creates a new version. Perhaps the people I met there were such alternate selves."

"That's...too complicated for me," Belly said.

"I understand what you're saying," the vampire said, "So it's possible then, that some other reality has lost their Alec."

Alec looked befuddled, and not a small amount disturbed. Magnus sat up and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "Sadly for them," Magnus agreed, and gave his poor love a squeeze.

They moved on to lighter topics--the current state of affairs in their part of California, the increase in demon problems around the world. Nice things like that.

As far as Magnus was concerned, anything not involving Alexander's death was very nice indeed.

After some time, he felt himself begin to nod off. Nearly dying from injuries and then mad, furniture-destroying, fire-starting lovemaking made him so tired, he didn't know how much longer he could keep his eyes open. Thankfully, this vampire was less rude than others he knew, and took the hint.

"We should go," he suggested. "We need to get to our reality's New York and explore some issues going on there. Willow has constructed a spell that allows us to travel much the way yours did. She said she'd be happy to share the trademark with you, if you'd like."

Magnus smiled, but waved the offer away. "Not necessary. Unless, of course, my self in that reality threatens to sue. Then get in touch, and we'll work on it."

He struggled to get up, and Alec finally took his elbow--like a doddering old man, and which, 400 years old or no, he hated--and helped him show their guests to the door.

"Oh!" Bethy said, pulling a shiny gold pouch out of her pocket. "This is a pan...portal...dimension thing. Anyway, Willow says you can signal if you need us to come, and we can do the same. It's like a focus so we can find each other. Any time you need extra back up, we'll come."

"Same," Magnus said, not quite able to say more. He hugged the tiny Slayer and kissed her cheeks, then shook Anthony's hand when Alec was finished doing so.

"Thank you, guys," the vampire said, "I hope we never need to see each other again, but I suspect with the way we live, we just might."

The Slayer pulled Alec down to her height and gave him a wet smack right on the lips. Mangus and her husband glared, and Alec was clearly shocked. Of course, he had never kissed a woman not related to him before.

"I'm really, _really_ glad you're not dead. Your Magnus was just...I don't know if he would have lived through it."

The pair left, and Alec slammed the loft door. Magnus put a charm on it that would prevent anyone from even knocking without getting a nasty shock.

"You didn't tell me that," Alec said the moment the door was closed.

"What? Didn't I?" Magnus said, and shuffled stiffly toward the bedroom. He could have spelled away his aches, but this kind of pain, he liked.

Alec claimed his arms and turned Magnus back to face him. "You didn't tell me you watched me _die_ , Magnus."

Magnus felt his eyes fill, and shook his head. He tried to pull away, but Alec wouldn't let him go. He couldn't meet his Shadowhunter's searching gaze. "I couldn't. I can't...say the words. It's too much." He sagged against Alec's side, and let his love help him to bedroom. He carefully removed Magnus's robe, turned down the covers, and helped the warlock into bed.

"Please, don't go," he pleaded. Not that Alec would go anywhere, he knew. It just... he needed him to be there with him right at that moment. Forever.

Alec took off his robe and climbed in behind Magnus, spooning him and tucking his face into the crook of Magnus's neck. "I wish you had told me."

"Why? It wasn't real. Not for you, anyway. It didn't matter."

"But you thought it was real. You had to go through it. You could have talked to me about it. You can talk to me about anything, you know you can."

Magnus nodded, too choked with long-repressed tears to speak. He took the hand Alec had wrapped around him and kissed every knuckle, each fingertip, and the palm. "I don't want to think about it anymore. Or ever again for a hundred years or more."

"Magnus...I'm not going to live to be 124."

"Yes you are. Shut up. I'll figure out something by then so you can live to be 10,000, and by that time, I'll be done too."

Alec chuckled. "You're a dreamer, Magnus Bane. But that's part of why I love you."

Magnus turned in his arms and kissed him, long and sweet. He caressed that angel's face, letting himself get lost in the glowing life in his eyes.

"I love you too, Alexander Lightwood. Now, and forever."


End file.
